Proceedings of the
Second Wheeling Convention

The Convention met at ten o'clock. A. M., and was opened with prayer by
Rev. Gordon Battelle.

The Minutes of the preceding day were read and adopted.

Mr. CARLILE, from the Committee on Business, reported the following
Ordinances, which were adopted:

Ordered, That until the Seals of the
Commonwealth ordered by this Convention are procured, the Governor
shall affix his private seal to such writs and other documents as
it shall be necessary for him to issue.

Ordered, That until the appointment of a
Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Governor be authorized to employ
some suitable person to fill said office
temporarily.

Mr. DORSEY offered the following:

Resolved, That a committee on offices to
consist of nine members be appointed.

He said the design of that resolution was to raise a committee to which the
various resolutions that had been offered by gentlemen in relation
to vacating the offices of the State might be submitted so as to
arrive at some harmonious action on that subject.

Mr. CARNE, of Tucker, did not know what end the gentleman proposed
to
reach with the resolution. The committee so raised could of its own
volition report nothing. Some matter for them to inquire into would
have to be offered after all. If this was another mode of reaching
the end sought to be obtained by the resolution offered by the
gentleman yesterday morning it would not effect the purpose unless
another committee were raised to consider that
matter.

Mr. DORSEY replied that the design attributed was not the design of the
resolution at all, but it was to present these resolutions one
after another, and refer them to the committee. The expectation was
that the committee would report back some of them, or a different
resolution on the general subject, or else present some explanation
which might go out to the people, giving them to understand why the
Convention had refused to take action on these
resolutions.

Mr. CARLILE said that if this resolution was to elicit discussion, he
would move to let it lie over for the present. He submitted a
motion, that when the convention adjourn, it adjourn over till
Monday at 2 o'clock.

After some discussion, the motion was adopted.

On motion, then, the ordinance relating to the receipts and
disbursements of the public revenue, and providing for the
appointment of an Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of the
Commonwealth, was taken up, and after having been considered,
section by section, and various amendations made, was passed
unanimously.

The ordinance as passed, is as follows:

An Ordinance relating to the Receipts and Disbursements of the Public
Revenue, and Providing for the appointment of an Auditor,
Treasurer, and Secretary of the Commonwealth.

The people of Virginia, by their delegates assembled in Convention, in
Wheeling, do ordain as follows:

1. The General Assembly, as soon as it shall be organized at Wheeling,
pursuant to the Ordinances of this Convention, shall elect by joint
vote of the two houses, an Auditor of Public Accounts, a Treasurer,
and a Secretary of the Commonwealth; whose terms of office shall
respectively commence as soon as they shall be duly qualified, and
shall continue for the unexpired portion of the current term of
said offices, and until their successors be respectively elected
and qualified.

2. The officers so to be elected shall discharge the duties and exercise
the powers pertaining to their several offices by existing laws, so
far as such law may be consistent with the ordinances of this
Convention.

3. Each of said officers shall give bond, with security, to the
satisfaction of the Governor, which bond shall be payable to the
Commonwealth of Virginia, and be conditioned for the faithful
performance of the duties of the office. The penalties of the bonds
shall be respectively as follows: that of the Auditor of Public
Accounts, Twenty Thousand Dollars; that of the Treasurer, Fifty
Thousand Dollars; and that of the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
Five Thousand Dollars. Each of these bonds shall be submitted to
the Governor for approval; and if he be of opinion that it is in
proper form, and duly executed, and that the security is
sufficient, he shall endorse his approval thereon, and cause the
same to be deposited in some secure place for
safekeeping.

4. The Auditor of Public Accounts, and the Treasurer, shall each keep an
office in the City of Wheeling, for the transaction of their
official business, and the hours for transacting business at said
offices shall be from eight in the morning, until three in the
afternoon, between the first day of April and the first day of
November; and from nine in the morning, until three in the
afternoon, during the remainder of the year.

5. It shall be the duty of the several Sheriffs, and all other persons
who have in their hands, or are liable for, any monies which by
existing laws are payable to the Treasury of the State of Virginia
forthwith to adjust their several accounts with the Auditor to be
elected as aforesaid and pay over to the Treasurer herein provided
for, the amounts which shall respectively be found due to the
State.

6. If any Sheriff or other person, having in his hands, or being liable
for, any monies which by existing laws are payable to the Treasury,
fail or refuse to adjust his account, or to pay over such monies as
herein required, the Auditor of Public Accounts shall immediately
publish a notice of such default in some Newspaper in the City of
Wheeling; and if such Sheriff or other person shall not, within
thirty days after such publication, have duly adjusted his account
and paid over such monies, he shall forfeit and pay to the
Commonwealth the sum of Five Hundred Dollars, to be levied by
distress under warrant of the Governor, which warrant it shall be
the duty of the Governor to issue, on satisfactory evidence that
such default has occurred, directing the same at his discretion to
the Sheriff of any county, or to a special Commissioner or
Commissioners for the purpose, and to the Sheriff or other person
making default as aforesaid, and his or their securities, shall
further be liable to judgment, in the name of the Commonwealth of
Virginia, for the amount appearing to be due with interest thereen
from the time of such default till payment, and fifteen per centum
upon the principal, as damages to be recovered by motion on ten
day's notice in any Court of Record in the State.

7. The
several Commissioners of the Revenue and Sheriffs, having first
taken the oath or affirmation required by the Ordinances of this
Convention, and being otherwise duly qualified, shall proceed, with
all convenient despatch, to the discharge of their several duties
in relation to the assessment and collection of the Public revenue,
under the existing laws, so far as the same may not be inconsistent
with the Ordinances of this Convention.

8. All monies to be paid into the public Treasury, shall be paid into the
Merchants' and Mechanics' Bank of Wheeling, at the City of
Wheeling, or one of its Branches, at Point Pleasant, Clarksburg and
Morgantown; or into the North-western Bank of Virginia, at
Wheeling, or one of its Branches at Parkersburg and Wellsburg, but
if collected East of the Blue Ridge of Mountains, into the Bank of
the Old Dominion in Alexandria, to the credit of The Treasury of
Virginia; and the person so paying the same shall take from the
proper officer of such Bank or Branch, a certificate of the fact.
The Treasurer, on the delivery of such certificate, shall retain
and file the same, charging the amount therein specified to the
proper Bank or Branch, and delivering to the person who made the
payment at Bank, duplicate receipts for the amount so paid,
specifying on what account the money was paid. The person making
the payment shall forthwith hand over one of the said receipts to
the Auditor of Public Accounts, to be retained and filed by him,
and charged to the Treasurer's account: and upon the other receipt,
which is to be retained by the person making the payment, the
Auditor shall endorse as follows: A duplicate hereof has been filed
in the Auditor's office, and affix his signature and the proper
date to such endorsement.

9. No receipt of the Treasurer shall be an acquittance or discharge to
any person for any sum of money due to the Commonwealth, unless
such receipt be endorsed by the Auditor of Public Accounts as
aforesaid. And any person bound to pay money into the Public
Treasury, who shall pay the same otherwise than according to this
Ordinance, shall remain liable for such money, and be subject to
every fine, penalty or forfeiture to which he would have been
subject if he had not paid the same.

10. If the Governor, at any time when this Convention, and the General
Assembly, re-organized under the ordinances thereof, shall not be
in session, shall be of opinion that the safety of the public funds
requires that no more public monies should be paid into any one or
more of the depositories specified in the preceding section, or
that the monies which may be in the same, to the credit of the
Treasury, should be withdrawn, he may announce the fact by
proclamation to be published in some newspaper in the City of
Wheeling, and in the City of Alexandria, and in the proclamation he
may, if it be necessary, designate another depository or
depositories, at which monies due the Commonwealth may thereafter
be paid. And after such proclamation is published, it shall not be
lawful to pay any sum of money on State account into any depository
or depositories to which such payment shall be thereby forbidden;
and the Auditor of Public Accounts and Treasurer, if required by
the Governor, shall cause the monies held by such depository or
depositories to be transferred to some other lawful depository or
depositories of the Public Funds. But all such Proclamations and
orders of the Government shall, as soon as possible, be submitted
to this Convention or to the General Assembly, for their
revision.

11. Any person claiming to receive money from the Public Treasury, shall
apply to the Auditor of Public Accounts for a warrant for the same.
And the Auditor if he find such money to be due by the State, and
that the payment thereof has been authorized by any Ordinance of
this Convention, or Act of the General Assembly as re-organized
under the ordinances of this Convention, shall issue his warrant
therefor upon the Treasurer, specifying on what account the money
is to be paid, and to what appropriation the same is chargeable.
And the Treasurer, on the presentation of said warrant to him,
shall, if satisfied that such warrant has been duly authorized as
aforesaid, endorse upon said warrant, his Check, directed to some
one of the depositories in which there shall be money to the credit
of the Treasury, which check shall be payable to the order of the
person entitled to receive the amount therein specified. The
Treasurer shall, however, at no time, draw a check on any Bank,
Branch or other depository, unless there be money enough therein,
to the credit of the Treasury, to pay such check. And no Bank,
Branch or other depository, holding money to the credit of the
Treasury, shall pay any check drawn by the Treasurer, unless the
same be endorsed upon a warrant, authorizing the same, issued by
the Auditor of Public Accounts.

12. This ordinance shall take effect from its passage. It may be
altered or repealed by the General Assembly.

The Convention then took a recess until two o'clock.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

Mr. LAMB offered a verbal amendment to the ordinance organizing
the State Government, which was adopted.

Mr. CARLILE offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Secretary be requested immediately to
notify the members of the Governor's Council, not now in the city,
of their election as such. Adopted.

Mr. MOORE offered the following:

Resolved, That this Convention, in view of the extraordinary
condition in which our portion of the United States is now placed,
we earnestly recommend to the Federal authorities, the construction
of a military road from Webster, a point on the B. & O. R. R.,
southward through the State of Virginia, or to some such point as
would be suitable for the concentration of forces in the struggle
in which our General Government is now engaged.

The resolution was referred to the Committee on Business.

On motion of Mr. Carlile, the ordinance fixing the salaries of
certain officers, &c. Was then taken up.

Mr. STEWART moved to amend the line fixing the salary of the
Governor at $3,000 per annum by striking out that sum and
substituting $2,000.

The amendment was rejected.

Mr. LAMB moved to insert between the first and second lines the
words "Of the Attorney General at the rate of $1,000 per annum."

The amendment was adopted.

Mr. HUBBARD moved to amend the line fixing the salary of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth at $1,500 per annum by striking out
that sum and substituting 1,200.

The amendment was rejected.

Mr. LIGHTBURN moved that the line fixing the pay of the
door-keepers be so amended as to allow them $2 per day, instead of
$1.50.

The amendment was adopted.

On motion of Mr. West, the line fixing the pay of the pages was
so amended as to allow them $1 a day, instead of fifty cents.

On motion of Mr. Lamb, the second section, requiring that the
expenses incurred by the Governor, shall be submitted to the
Auditor, the same as any other claims against the State, was so
amended as to require the same in regard to the expenses of his
Council.

The Ordinance, as a whole, was then adopted unanimously.

Mr. CLOSE offered the following resolution, which was
adopted:

Resolved, That a copy of the Declaration adopted by this
Convention, and the signatures hereto appended, be sent by special
messengers, to be designated by the President of this body, to the
President of the United States.

On motion of Mr. WEST, the rule was suspended for the purpose of
reconsidering the vote by which the election of Attorney General
was postponed until Saturday, and on his motion, the Convention
proceeded to the election.

Mr. HUBBARD nominated Jas. S. Wheat, Esq., of this city.

No other nominations being made, the roll was called, and Mr.
Wheat received 70 votes; Mr. Farnsworth, 1; Wm. A. Harrison, of
Harrison, 1.

The Chair announced that Jas. S. Wheat was elected Attorney
General for the State of Virginia.

Mr. FLESHER offered the following resolution, which was referred
to the Committee on Business:

Resolved, That for the better security and safety of the
loyal citizens of this Commonwealth, and the perpetuity of their
liberty, it is highly and exceedingly necessary that there should
be placed, at least in each of the counties of Western Virginia, by
the Federal Government, a recruiting officer, whose duty it shall
be to enlist all such young men as may be desirous of engaging in
their country's service, and when enlisted, to send them to Camp
Carlile, or elsewhere, for discipline and drill, so as to muster
them into the service of the United States, at as early a day as
possible; and that to this end, we invite and solicit the proper
officer of the general government, to send us such officers without
delay.

Mr. BURDETT suggested an inquiry into the whereabouts and
disposition of the 2,000 stands of arms now in the city.

Mr. CARLILE stated that he had been instructed to say that the
Committee of which he was Chairman, had had that matter under
consideration, and had unanimously come to the conclusion that the
guns referred to, should be handed over to the State authorities
here, for arming the volunteer militia of the State, which will be
organized in a few days.

Mr. DORSEY moved to suspend the rule for the purpose of
reconsidering the vote by which the Convention had resolved to
adjourn over till Monday. Lost.

Mr. MOORE moved that a committee of five be appointed to prepare
an address for circulation.

THE CHAIR stated that the Committee on Business already had that
matter under consideration.